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Get ready for traffic jams on the Moon

It might be time to consider traffic lights on the moon. In the past week, governments, space agencies, and even a company from the Isle of Man announced plans to land on the moon.

Marking the 35th anniversary of the Apollo programme's last outing, NASA announced on Monday that its next crewed lunar mission is on track for 2020, despite an increasingly constrained budget. Meanwhile, China opened up its lunar programme to private funding last week, planning a lander for 2012 and a crewed mission within 15 years. And Russia will begin a series of uncrewed landings in 2012, after a 30-year break from exploring the moon.

But it won't just be the big players adding to the traffic jam. Last week a private company called Odyssey Moon - based on the Isle of Man - became the first entrant in the Google Lunar X prize. The contest, announced in September, offers $20 million to the first privately funded mission to land a probe on the moon before 2012 and send back pictures